Rhapsody in Flew - A ComposerBird Concerto
by duskglow
Summary: A series of short vignettes about the life of ComposerBirds. In the "Goblet's Revenge" Universe, such as it is.
1. Chapter 1

This is going to be a series of short vignettes on the everyday life of ComposerBirds. This is within the Goblet's Revenge world, such as it is. Some stories will be touching, some silly, some just plain implacable. I hope you enjoy this glimpse into the world of ComposerBirds.

If you don't know what ComposerBirds are, read the Goblet's Revenge. They are quite the complex little characters.

Marche Funebre

It was a beautiful spring day at Hogwarts. The sun was shining, students were running around doing what students do (why did they insist on pressing their mouths together? It made no sense! And they turned that rather odd shade of red!).

The ComposerBirds loved the students, though. Every now and then they would come out with some tasty morsel smuggled out of their large rock structure. It wasn't alive, like a worm, but it was tasty nonetheless.

One day, though, their idyllic existence was brought to a sudden end.

One of their brethren was found dead.

The ComposerBird was lying still, underneath a tree, with her feet straight up in the air. Her body was happened upon by a MozartBird, who, upon noticing her friend, ran back to the flock singing the "Dies Irae".

All of the birds followed the MozartBird back to the location where the dead bird lay. And you've never heard such a ruckus.

ChopinBirds sang the "Funeral March". AbbaBirds sang "SOS". BeethovenBirds sang the third movement of the Fifth Symphony. TchaikovskyBirds sang the second movement of the second piano concerto. And BieberBirds just kept mute. "Baby baby baby" just didn't seem all that appropriate.

Carefully, all the birds gently picked up their fallen compatriot and carried her back to a convenient bird-sized stone slab, where they placed her gently. Then all of the birds, uncharacteristically quiet, went around and gathered all of the wildflowers they could find. There were daisies, lilies, petunias, violets, and one of them even managed to find a bluebonnet somewhere.

After placing all of the flowers around their friend, they sat in the grass, not moving, not singing, just sadly remembering all of the songs that their friend had sung over her short life.

CC

Harry Potter and Luna Lovegood were walking down the path, enjoying a quiet day, hand in hand, when they came across a rather strange sight. There were thousands of birds, all arranged in a circle, all pointed towards one bird laying upside down on a stone slab. The birds did not move, did not sing, they were completely quiet.

Harry said to Luna, while observing the spectacle, "What do you think is going on here?"

Luna smiled sadly.

"Why, Harry Potter, where did you get the idea that we were the only ones who grieve?"

She squeezed his hand, and they walked over to where all the birds were sitting. They sat down, cross-legged, still holding hands, and spent some time watching the dead bird along with all of the others.

One bird stood up, and waddled softly over to them. She jumped up on Luna's lap, and allowed Luna to stroke her head. She sang "Toy Soldiers", softly.

One tear leaked out of Luna's eye, and splashed down. She hummed the lullabye her mother had sang her, and the bird stilled.

She looked up at Luna.

She emitted an ear-piercing, grief-filled shriek, and every other bird in the area did so as well, before everything quieted down again.

Luna continued stroking the small bird, who was now shuddering softly.

Luna joined her.

CC

The MartikaBird saw the two students sitting down. She recognized Luna and Harry, and decided to break with tradition and greet them. She walked over to Luna, and hopped on her lap. She stilled, and allowed the girl to stroke her head. She was so sad, she hated it when one of her companions died.

She felt some water splash next to her. She envied the human's ability to cry. She, being a bird, could not.

And then her human companion sang a song.

She stilled. Emotion overcame her. In that song was all of the grief, all of the loss, all of the pain that every single bird sitting there was feeling. And unable to contain herself, she screamed. She screamed for every dead bird. She screamed for every dead human She screamed in primal rage for the injustice, the agony, of death. She screamed, and all of her friends screamed with her.

She could not cry. But she could come close - all of the emotions were so strong that she could do naught but shudder.

She found it a small comfort that her human companion was doing the same.

CC

Hours later found Harry and Luna still sitting there, Luna resting against Harry, both of them asleep, and the MartikaBird also asleep on Luna's lap.

Finally, after dark, Luna and Harry had to go back to the castle, and all of the birds had to see to the serious business of burying their friend. After quite a bit of scratching and digging, they finally succeeded, and having paid their respects, they started singing again. One, then another, until the grounds near the forbidden forest were awash with the sounds of ComposerBirds again.

Life went on.

This is the story of how a ComposerBird becomes a DecomposerBird.

A/N Sorry. Can't turn it completely off.

Hope you enjoyed.

More coming.


	2. Allegro Con Brio

Many, many years ago, in the year of, let's say 1796, some Classical-era ComposerBirds were having a banner day.

It was a beautiful spring day, as is usually the case for banner days for ComposerBirds. The grass was green and succulent, the worms were fat and juicy - and thanks to a wonderful spring rain the day before, also squirming along the ground and ripe for the pickin'. As you would expect, there were no such things as BieberBirds (lucky victorian-era people), JacksonBirds, GibbsBirds, or even CageBirds. But as you can imagine, BachBirds, BeethovenBirds, and MozartBirds were all the rage, along with a few other well and lesser known composers.

Of course, ComposerBirds are fairly good at keeping up with musical trends. But not many know they can also set them!

On this fine day, the castle was entertaining some fairly high-profile guests. The ComposerBirds did not know this, though, for if they did, they might have all collectively fainted.

All the birds were sitting in trees, or on the ground, or flying around, chittering, chirping, and singing happily, when one solitary bird went quiet. She thought for a moment, and then, loudly and clearly, uttered the following four note phrase:

DA DA DA DUMMMMMM

Then she thought for another moment, went up a step, and did the same thing again.

DA DA DA DUMMMMMM

All of the other birds went quiet, and turned to look at her, for this was a musical motif that had never been uttered before.

Undaunted, she tried again.

DA DA DA DUMMMMMMM DA DA DA DUMMMMMMM

The other birds scooted closer. What was this divine music they were hearing?

After a few iterations of repeating, the forest went quiet. Then, with the raising of a wing, every single ComposerBird in the area, in perfect unison, repeated the phrase.

DA DA DA DUMMMMMMM DA DA DA DUMMMMMMMMMM

-CC-

As it happened one of the special guests in the castle was just wrapping up a meeting with the current headmaster, Basil Fronsac. There was some thought of installing a musical patronage into the castle, and he had invited some high profile musicians to get their input. Perhaps one of them would even be interested in Hogwarts being a patron!

As they walked outside, all of the ComposerBirds were completely quiet, when every single one, in unison, said:

DA DA DA DUMMMMMMMM DA DA DA DUMMMMMMMMMM

One of the special guests stopped and stared at the group of birds in wonder, and they stared back.

"Das! Das ist es!", he shouted. "Das ist das Motiv! Fuer meine Symphonie! Danke, Danke, mein schoen Fluegeleinen!"

The ComposerBird flew down and landed next to the man. She started at him curiously. Suddenly, recognition struck, and with a shocked tweet, every single ComposerBird in the area came over and mobbed him, tweeting "Fuer Elise", the "Pathetique" sonata, and a whole bunch of other musical phrases. It was hours before he managed to detach himself enough to leave for home, and it took days for them to start singing Mozart again.

For yes, my bird-loving friends, this is the story of how Ludwig Van Beethoven got the idea for his Symphony #5.

And the story of how one particular ComposerBird was treated as royalty by every other bird until she died.


End file.
